


Food Soul Biography: Frog Cake

by Soul_Chicken_Soup



Series: Food Soul OC Biographies [4]
Category: Food Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Dress Up, Fairy Tale Elements, Father Figure (eventually), Gen, House Disputes, Magic Mirrors, Master is a Child, Moving On, Self-Destruction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-26 02:48:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19759030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soul_Chicken_Soup/pseuds/Soul_Chicken_Soup
Summary: [With approval of SoundScreecher. Featuring her OC Ice Cream Mochi and my OC paired with her.]The "prince" of a duke's child is found caught in the crossfire of two feuding families alongside the opposing family's Food Soul.





	1. The Duke, the Prince, and the Visit

**Author's Note:**

> I may update that summary later on.

“Oh Prince!” With a sigh, I fixed my rolled up sleeves to stay up and just continued down the hall lined with this long, tacky brown rug.

“Prince!” Sets of footsteps followed, and I almost let a growl loose between my teeth.

“Would you please stop calling me ‘Prince’ when not in the presence of that child?” I requested to those slightly irritating maids of my Young Lord.

“Oh but our Prince, it’s an adorable title. The Young Lord himself had given you such a position with prestige. Speaking of, is that a new costume the Duke got for you?”

“Yes, because my Young Lord insists on playing dress-up during every waking moment of the day. Even at night, he asks me to read that story for the hundredth time before he goes to bed. This is the fourth costume commissioned this month alone, and I have been given no time to wear any of the older ones. The child insists that ‘A prince should never be seen in the same outfit unless it is his official, political dress.’ That’s what he told me when I asked why he kept asking his poor father for more costumes.”

“Oh yes, he is a peculiar child,” the other maid commented. “He reads his fairy tales of Prince Charming and love at first sight over his studies. And he loves watching plays and partying around the mansion in those costumes, once even dressed like a young princess and no one suspected a thing until he tripped and his wig flew off. He’s more an actor than a future Duke.”

At least that child kept his ego in check, probably the only reason why I ever go along with his stories. Because Young Lord or not, I should be protecting him, not dressing as royalty from this “Frog Prince” fairy tale of finding love. Thank the stars that the Young Lord had a playmate today, who was visiting from another noble family as their fathers conversed over their lands.

“Girls, please go fetch the children’s snacks from the kitchen,” a warm, yet powerful voice called out. The two maids giggled as they walked off to the kitchens.

“My Lord, how has your conference go?” I asked with a bow.

“Smooth as it should’ve been, if not he inquire about my son’s fascination in theatrical arts.” There was an air of aloof in the Duke’s voice. “Said something along the lines that he needs to mature if he hopes to find a bride in the future. I told him that he’s still just a child and can have his hobbies, and he goes and scoffs it.”

“No offense to you, My Lord, but that’s probably because you crack whenever the Young Lord starts throwing a tantrum if he doesn’t get his costumes. At this rate, he’ll grow up spoiled.”

“I know that, Frog Cake. He seems nowadays just to like dressing up than take the morals of the fairy tales he loves so much to heart. It must be a bit troublesome for you too, as he’s been dressing you up like a mannequin or a doll since your arrival.”

“Tell me about it.” The man with still quite the amount of youth left in him laughed at my remark.

“Daddy!” Speaking of, here comes that kid now, but wait. Was he crying? But he bolted right past me and into the Duke’s arms before I could get a better look.

“His Food Soul is scaring me! I only asked her politely to dress in Mama’s old gown, but she glared at me so coldly!”

Food Soul? When did my Young Lord’s favorite playmate obtain a Food Soul? I thought that only this kid had a Food Soul at his age.

“I really am sorry!” Ah, there’s the neighboring young Duke himself, all dressed up like a prince just like me. “I told Mochi to behave herself on the way here, but she never gave that expression before!”

“I am not someone’s dress-up doll, it’s not a hobby fit for a future Duke.” The entire hallway suddenly went cold, and the candles scenting the room from the burning wax flickered out. The footsteps of heeled shoes echoed heavily as the figure of a young woman, whose visage was hidden behind the kitsune mask, and in the most elegantly layered princess dress I had ever laid eyes on approached. Although I couldn’t see her eyes, I felt them pierce through my skull and I shivered.

“And you, don’t you have better things to do for your Attendant than pretend to be a prince or whatever you’re dressed as?”

“It’s just what he wants, it’s also our job to answer to our Attendants’ wishes. And what about you, Ice Princess?”

“That’s Ice Cream Mochi to you, Frog Prince.”

“It’s Frog  Cake !” This lady was really starting to irritate me with that attitude of hers. “Don’t dare to ever call me that ridiculous fairy tale name ever again! Only my Young Lord can call me ‘Prince’ or any equivalent!”

“That is enough, you two!” the Duke ordered. The man placed the Young Lord back on the ground and took a deep breath to calm himself before kneeling down to the children’s level. “It looks like your Food Souls have started on the wrong foot. Let’s hope this gets resolved soon because I will not tolerate any turmoil between them. Is that clear, boys?”

“Yes, Daddy,” the Young Lord replied with a nod.

“I will do my best, sir,” his friend followed.

Great. I had to put up with this Ice Princess more in the future, didn’t I? … *sigh* Well, I suppose I can give her one chance next time we meet. But I doubt that next time we do cross paths, it would be any different from today.


	2. Secrets

The number of maids began decreasing one by one over the next few weeks. Now their numbers were being replaced by men in suits. My Young Lord would hold onto my hand tightly whenever we walked down the halls.

“Our Lord, where are you off to?” a guard asked the child, who only hid behind me. I held up the loaded basket up for the man to look.

“My Young Lord and I are just going for a picnic and fresh air. This stressful atmosphere is not healthy for the next Duke at this tender age.”

“I doubt a ‘magic’ mirror can protect the Lord out there with that traitorous family.”

“We will not go far from the property. They wouldn’t dare come within several feet of us.”

“Very well then.”

As soon as we got the guards off our backs, I let my Young Lord climb onto my back and I escorted the two of us to a secluded part of the property down by the lake on the border of ours and the opposing family’s territories.

“Good thing they didn’t bother to look in the basket, Prince,” the child giggled mischievously as he slid down my back and cape. “They would see it be for more than two.”

“They would not expect you to be so devious in actually sneaking out, my Young Lord. Let us just hope your letter had reached without notice.”

“Can I look in your mirror again, Prince?”

“My Young Lord, you know already that my mirror does not give back your present attire. It reflects what’s in your heart even when you don’t know it’s there.”

“I know, and that’s the point. I want to ask something.”

I could only sigh and watch as the child sat down where my mirror’s polished surface reflected the lake. My angle allowed me to see the sad look on his face, and I was then aware of what he would ask.

“Mirror, mirror at this lake, how much more of pressure at home can I take?”

The reflection changed instantly, the scenery and his body twisting into a ball of flame which then shaped itself into a burning heart.

“Prince, what does this mean?” he asked me.

“I am just as clueless as you are, my Young Lord. This is a first for me.”

My mirror had never shown a desire so enigmatic that I couldn’t understand. Much like the magic mirror in “Snow White”, the mirror was incapable of forging a truth. And it couldn’t foresee futures beyond now. At least I didn’t think so.

“We’re here!” 

The friend of my Young Lord and that Ice Princess came through the woods, and the playmate ran towards us. I stood up from the stone bench I had scraped together weeks before and began to set up the picnic for the boys.

“Fruit Salad! My favorite!” the friend cheered.

“Attendant, must this become a weekly routine?” that cold woman asked.

“But I want to play with my friend, not be enemies with my friend. Papa and Mama are wrong, there’s nothing wrong with my friend.”

“They’re just kids, Ice Princess,” I piped up. “They shouldn’t be involved in anything political yet. Let them have their fun.”

The kids spotted a rabbit coming up to the lake, and they immediately chased after it.

“Don’t go too far, we’ll be eating soon!” I called out to them.

“We won’t, Prince!” I couldn’t help the amusement that must be present on my face as they continued pursuing the poor, fluffy creature all around the lake. Ice Cream Mochi had taken a seat at the bench, her mask lopsided to reveal part of her face.

“From the sound of it, things aren’t going well on your end either.”

“Far from well, Frog Prince,” she replied with that deadpan tone that irritated me. “I am seeing less and less maids around the mansion, and more and more militia. They scare Attendant even when he doesn’t show it.”

“Same as in my household. My Young Lord barely leaves my side when moving about our home. To think all of this started because of a parental dispute. Should it matter how children are raised?”

“Yes, because…” Her hold on her parasol laxed before squeezing, a sign that something was not being said, a gesture I learned from watching my Duke for so long. Knowing that I wouldn’t get answers out of her on my own, I rolled my mirror over in front of her. She hadn’t seen its power yet, so she was giving a quizzical look into her reflection.

All of a sudden, the reflection became a distorted nightmare of two red silhouettes against a black background and they seemed to be scolding someone. It was like I could almost hear the vile words slip from their invisible mouths, saying this and that on behaving like a woman and not a lenient child.

“Wh-what is the meaning of this?” Ice Princess’s voice actually sounded shaken up for once. Before I could explain, the image changed to a dark room, and two hands were trying frantically to open the locked door.

“Enough!” In a flash, my mirror was knocked away and it rolled into the shallow part of the lake. In a panic, I ran to retrieve it before it could sink further into the mud below.

“What happened?” my Young Lord asked me with his friend in tow.

“N-nothing, my Young Lord. You know the mirror can have a mind of its own sometimes. Maybe it wanted to go for a swim.” The two children laughed, all signs of worry leaving their faces. With my mirror back on shore, I laid it out in the sun away from the picnic blanket. Ice Cream Mochi had a scowl on her face when she looked at me before she forced herself to look neutral as ever and sit down with the boys.

What was going on in that household? What were the Duke and Duchess doing to her that would conjure up such horrible reflections of the heart?


	3. Final Straw

The Duchess disappeared on invitation to the Countess in the capital. Word then came that the same had happened with the opposing family’s matriarch. So with all of the tension between the families, they blamed each other. Fearing for my Young Lord’s life, I packed up what he would need on a long trip. It wasn’t a lie telling the Duke that I was ushering his son to safety in case of a full on war. But by this point, he was blinded by fury and he refused to let us leave the manor.

On nights of war councils in the Duke’s chambers, my Young Lord would beg me to stay in his room and protect him. The poor child shouldn’t be in the middle of this madness, with his mother missing and his father having gone insane with anger and grief. He would cry in my arms before falling asleep, and even then it was never peaceful.

The two families used to be so close until the past two years. All starting because of the families’ education methods of their respective sons.

I have tried to talk the Duke out of conflict, but he would not listen to me, “a Food Soul with no experience in strife.” What did he think all of those fairy tales the Young Lord had me read were about? I knew what tragedy was, and I knew what violence and hatred could do to someone.

A month after her disappearance, the Duchess was reported dead, her body drained of her blood. As soon as the news hit, the house was thrown into total chaos.

The other house stormed the manor overnight. The same fate had fallen on the rival Duke’s wife, and now was out for the blood of this family, blaming them for her death. Same could be said to the Duke, and the two were in combat.

Soldiers of the opposing family broke down the door to my Young Lord’s bedroom. The child screamed and held tightly to me and his frog doll Lotus. My mirror was quickly confiscated and I was pulled out by the fierce grip on my arm as I refused to let the soldiers touch my Young Lord, who was scared beyond his mind.

We were dragged down the halls, and I shielded the boy’s eyes from the corpses that lined the walkways. The heat and stench of blood was unbearable, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the horror.

“Our Lord, we have the child and his Food Soul!” the captain announced. I had realized that we were now in the gardens, where the Duke and his former friend were clashing their longswords like in those old chivalrous fairy tales. But there was no honor in this fight, you could see the hatred burning in their eyes.

“You coward! Release my son!” our Duke bellowed.

“Admit your defeat and I may let the boy live! And I will raise him into the Duke he’s meant to be!”

“I’ll kill you before you do that to my son!”

Men on our side suddenly popped up from out of nowhere. But something was off about them. They had spread oil on the plants and one was holding a match.

“Stop! You’re going to kill us all!” I screamed in panic. The battle in front of me came to a halt when they heard my cry and they saw the man drop the match.

The garden went up in flames. The chaos of the Duchess’s death was nothing like the anarchy and fear that happened over the next few seconds. Soldiers ran from the blaze, those trapped could only scream out in pain as the flames consumed them. The Dukes were in the middle, all I could hear were their yells of anguish and anger, like they were reverted into monstrous beasts that shut everyone out.

The fire was quickly spreading. I sprinted down the halls as fast as I could with my Young Lord in my arms. My vision tunneled, black at the corners. I had to save him. At least him.

“Wait, Prince! Your mirror!” he shouted at me.

“Forget the mirror! We need to get out of here!”

“You’re a prince! You need your mirror, your secret weapon! Your treasure!” He looked firmly into my eyes, and it was a stare that showed maturity, something not in his characterization outside of playtime.

Thankfully, my mirror wasn’t too far from the exit, in the arms of a slain soldier. But to our surprise…

“What are you two doing here?!” I called out in shock at the sight of my Young Lord’s friend and Ice Cream Mochi. The other boy however was sobbing, clutching her gown. Her expression was unreadable as always, but she was gripping the handle of her parasol tightly.

“We snuck on to stop the Duke, but… we were too late,” Ice Princess explained.

“Papa… why?” my Young Lord’s playmate whimpered. I couldn’t find the words to explain what had happened in the garden.

Were those men traitors? Why would they commit genocide against their own master?

“Look out!” Before I realized what was happening, both children had pulled away from us, and they shoved us down the small hillside down the side of the manor’s entrance and following was a boom that sent me into unconsciousness.

* * *

“... ince…! Frog… -g Prince!” The freeze on my back and face was getting to me, and my eyes opened, blurred from the unintentional sleep. Ice Princess was right there, staring down at me with my mirror at her side.

“My Young Lord!” The children! Where did they go?! Were they alright?!

Ice Cream Mochi laid a hand on my shoulder. Her eyes showed more than just pain. There was sadness and grief. It couldn’t be…

Scrambling to my feet, I ran up the small slope… only to find the house reduced to ashes. The coals of the house were still warm and burning, you could still feel the heat. And by where we were pushed away…

Why? Why these innocent children? They only wanted to stay friends. They didn’t ask for this. They didn’t deserve… this cruel fate…!

“RAAAAAAAUUUGH!”


	4. New Beginning

Lotus was being carried by the Ice Princess as our silent, years long hike continued since leaving the remains of the manor. My mirror had become foggy with smoke. I hadn’t bothered to clean it since that night.

My “companion” kept looking like she wanted to say something, but no words came out of her mouth. I almost wanted to shout at her to say something. But I thought back to the reflections of her heart, and I rejected the idea. She had been through maybe worse than me even before the feud.

The inns we had stopped at in the past few days were generous enough to let us take a room free of charge, but I knew our luck was soon to wear out. Eventually, as I had predicted, a more lavish inn wanted some form of payment. But it was the only lodging for the next hundred kilometers, and I could tell from how slack Ice Cream Mochi looked despite her insistence that she was close to passing out from exhaustion. So I gave the innkeeper the only thing worth something.

The crowns my Young Lord would make me wear were made of authentic precious metals and jewels (he would throw out anything not “fitting for a prince”), and so I knew the one I was wearing now would fetch a high price. Despite demanding that we pay for a room, the innkeeper looked almost hesitant to accept it.

“It’s only part of the costume. But I assure you that the emeralds, pearls and platinum used in it are real.”

The crown was enough to afford the nicest room the inn had to offer and we were treated to a warm meal all at the owner’s insistence. It felt nice to be able to eat our fill for once, having been raised in high class families. I decided to also request polish for my mirror, which was quickly provided.

My mirror gleamed now that every trace of ashes and coals were cleaned off and the tarnished parts were polished. But I still didn’t see anything reflected when I gazed into the glass. It was “empty”.

My sleep that night was restless, unable to comprehend why the mirror didn’t reflect anything.

* * *

Room service had arrived, waking me up. But neither me or that Ice Princess, who was already awake, had ordered any room service. I got up to tell the worker that they had the wrong room, but I found myself spotting my crown on a cart of breakfast.

“Costume or not, you don’t deserve to be wandering for such distances,” the innkeeper told me. “I had sent a letter to some locals who are sure to take you two in. They’ll be here by this afternoon at the earliest.”

Locals? In the middle of nowhere? This inn was mostly only for travelers. Who was living around here?

Before I could ask anything, the innkeeper had tucked the crown back into my hair and left the cart behind for us.

Breakfast was gone by quietly, both of us skeptical of who would be coming for two strangers, let alone two Food Souls. Unless the mysterious locals were looking for Food Souls to work for them. Truthfully, I was in no such mood to work for anyone. But as the afternoon tea came around, we both resigned ourselves to accepting their hospitality, whoever they were.

Back to the ground floor, the room was fairly vacant save for me, Ice Cream Mochi, Lotus, and a few more travelers.

“At the table, the green haired boy with the crown,” I heard the innkeeper pointed out. Curious, I turned to the entrance to find a tall, red haired Food Soul with impressive dark horns and an air of nobility. His red eyes gazed at me, and I suddenly felt self-conscious of my attire.

“They’re the ones you’re asking us to take in?” the knight asked to be sure.

“You would take sympathy too if you had seen them last night. The woman looked close to passing out at the doorway and they had nothing but a crown on them to pay with. I of course gave it back, it looked too personal just to pawn it off for something like a room.”

“But you said…” I tried to protest. “Then why…? If you weren’t going to accept it as payment…”

“That crown alone could afford every room here. But you wouldn’t be staying your whole lives. And that kind of money is all you have so you shouldn’t waste on just a day.”

I could tell that the innkeeper wasn’t going to accept any argument I could think of that would overturn the decision. So I simply walked up to the knight, stopping several feet in front of him.

“Are you fine with me and my… companion staying with you?”

“You’re really just like a noble,” he said with a grin. “I had talked it over with the other two, and they finally gave in to having two more at our place. I’m Steak, a Knight of the Holy Sword. You two are in good hands.”

There was a warm feeling I hadn’t felt in some time. My Young Lord had called it something like “a father’s love”, something I only felt with the Duke before losing his sanity.

“I’m Frog Cake. Over there is Ice Princess herself.”

“Don’t try to make yourself all royal, Frog Prince,” the woman rebutted.

“Not with someone obviously above us around!” I snapped back. Steak had mirth on his face.

“You two sound like me and that mongrel waiting outside,” he said with a tone of amusement. “Things are sure to be livelier for all of us.”

With our room cleaned, we met up with Steak outside the entrance, where another man dressed like nobility was standing in the shade of the trees.

“There’s the mongrel himself, Red Wine,” Steak introduced. I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped me before, somehow, the walk to a hidden house was without incident.

Would this be what my Young Lord say was a happy ending? Or was there going to be a continuation of something new?


	5. Frog Cake

At an inn in the middle of nowhere, the only people you would expect to meet were traveling merchants, explorers and the occasional wild animals. Imagine the surprise of the innkeeper when a tired, young woman dressed like a Light Kingdom princess and a mature boy in gallant attire like a Gloriville prince walked in before sundown and asked for a room for the night. A room didn’t come for free, which the innkeeper had told them, and the prince took off his platinum crown with pearls and emeralds and gave it to the owner as payment.

Although he told the owner that it’s just an accessory for his costume, the innkeeper couldn’t bring it in themselves to believe that, even though the crown could be sold for a fortune. The two were given one of the nicest rooms in the inn, the lodging carrying out any requests they had during their stay. The innkeeper decided that the two didn’t deserve to continue wandering from whatever they were leaving behind and wrote a request to three Food Souls that lived in the area.

Steak and Red Wine arrived around afternoon tea the next day, and the innkeeper gave the two more detail before bringing Steak inside to see for himself. The two in question were at a table with tea and cookies, the crown secured back on the head of the pastel green haired Food Soul. It didn’t take much for Steak to appreciate that they accepted to let the two live with them.

Steak had noticed that other than their tailor clothes, the only items the duo had were her mask and parasol and his frog doll and a large, circular mirror. But it wasn’t his place to ask why they had very little on them and were traveling long distances. After all, the faded colors on their garments pointed to having been worn for years.

* * *

Weeks had passed since then.

Steak was currently staring into the newly decorated room of the pastel greenette, where said Food Soul was curled up on his plush bed and holding his frog doll tightly to him in his troubled sleep. The crown rested on white nightstand and his new cape was splayed over the chair of his desk.

Steak had asked Frog Cake before why he always left his bedroom door open even when he’s sleeping, and the shorter man had replied that it helped him sleep knowing everything sounded as it should. The redhead didn’t think he needed to go that far, and that was coming from a knight such as himself. Still, he chose to respect Frog Cake’s loyalty and would take the opportunity to see the greenette when he’s not trying to act like he’s fine.

From where it was leaned against the corner of the room, the magic mirror that could reflect the desires and feelings of the heart began to show a picture of a burning house. It didn’t take much else to look for before Steak went into the bedroom and firmly grasped the smaller Food Soul’s shoulder.

Steak didn’t need to say a word before the greenette’s eyes shot open and he was instantly on his knees with the frog doll falling onto his lap. The picture in the mirror vanished a few seconds later.

“S-Steak… It’s just you.” Frog Cake took deep breaths to calm himself down. An arm reached around the plush and the younger Food Soul looked unfocused.

“Frog Cake, I saw something disturbing in your mirror,” Steak cut to the chase. “You were also looking far from calm. Is it connected to something like a burning house?”

“Wh-what…?” Frog Cake’s eyes widened in a mix of horror and relief. “It finally… worked on me again…? And you saw that…?”

“Was that where you came from?” Steak was always scolded for being blunt, but he felt that dodging the main issue would lead to the younger bottling up his feelings again.

“Yes… The Duke’s manor…”

“Is there… anyone left?”

“No… It’s just me… Everyone…”

Like a broken dam, the emotions started to spill out and tears began to fill the dark eyes. Steak decided it was best kept between the two of them and closed the bedroom door. It wasn’t a moment later that the younger Food Soul began to tell the knight his past.

With a fairy tale loving child as a Master Attendant, Frog Cake was dressed as a prince from Day 1, resembling the “Frog Prince” character. Ice Cream Mochi was the Food Soul of his Attendant’s friend, and so the two were forced to interact with one another. But the more strict patriarch of the other family was displeased of how the father of Frog Cake’s Attendant had let him continue to behave like a child, and thus began tension between the two families.

Over the course of two years, the relationship between them got worse, wrapping the two children and their Food Souls into the mess. What broke the last bit of restraint of going to full war was the disappearances of the Duchesses who were found dead by blood loss. The two families struck each other down, and traitorous soldiers burned everyone trapped in the manor and themselves alive, including the maddened Dukes. And the only ones who survived were the two Food Souls that were saved by their Master Attendants instead of saving themselves.

The smaller Food Soul was starting to bawl at the end, heaving in air to try and calm himself. 

“... He will pay for this,” Steak growled in anger.

“H-huh…?” Frog Cake quickly began wiping away his tears, trying to rein in his loose emotions.

“I know who killed your Duchess, and who killed Mochi’s as well.” A surge of rage hit the greenette in the heart, bringing his tears to a halt at last.

“Who is the monster who killed our families?”

“His name is Bloody Mary, the Food Soul of the Countess. She had him kill them for their blood, as he did with many girls. And even though the Countess has been dead for years now, he’s still out there.”

“Where can we find that scoundrel?”

A comforting hand laid on his shoulder.

“We’re keeping an eye out for him too. But we can’t just rush in without some sort of precautions. He’s cunning and manipulating, powerful at that. Charging in without preparation is suicide. Luckily, we have some allies from a church three towns over. So it won’t just be us.

“After all, while it is heroic to bring justice, being foolish about it will only bring tragedy.”

"Justice…" the younger muttered.

“We’ll take him down one day, Frog Cake. That I can promise you.”


End file.
